Women in White
by emebalia
Summary: This is the pilot, Jess' POV. She is with the brothers on their trip to Jericho. Not AU, this is 100 % canon
1. Chapter 1

**Women in White**

With a smile Jess put away the phone. Sam would be home soon. And he would be there for the interview which was scheduled in only a few hours. Jess let out a sigh of relief.

Why did he have to go on that stupid weekend with his brother? To find his father he had never ever talked about? Jess could recall only one or two times Sam had even mentioned his father. They had a big fight right before Sam had left for college and that was all Jess knew about that man. Enough to not like him.

And Dean? Sam had spoken about him occasionally. When he had a beer too many. What Jess could make out of the snippets Sam had let out over the time Dean was Sam's hero. Sam adored him and missed him but never made contact with him.

Neither did Dean. Phones worked both ways, you know. But what little she knew about Dean she never took him for someone who'd brake into someone's apartment in the middle of the night. Not even his brother's apartment. Did he even know what a doorbell was?

They hadn't talked to each other in two years and then Dean showed up and Sam took off with him without a second thought. With the interview coming up no less. Jess shook her head, she still couldn't quite believe that Sam just had packed a bag and had taken off with Dean. The story about the hunting trip? She hadn't believed it then and she didn't believe it now.

Sam's gaze. It had changed when Dean had said _hunting trip_. From her angle she hadn't a good look at her boyfriend's face but she had felt the tension in his body. Something wasn't right.

Sam hadn't been honest with her and there would be words for that. After he'd rocked the interview, of course.

"I just hope he isn't going to fell asleep right in the middle of it." She sighed but with a smile on her lips. Glancing at the watch she figured she had enough time to bake his favorite cookies before Sam would be home. Fresh, warm cookies. Nothing better than that to coax him into telling her everything he had done over the weekend.

Pulling out the flour and the other ingredients she mentally went over the call he had given her just minutes ago. He hadn't said a word about his father, she realized. Not a word if they had found him or not. Just that he would be home soon. But there would be time to talk. Sam would come home, they'd eat some cookies, sleep a few hours and then the interview. After that there would be all the time in the world to talk.

Humming she mixed the ingredients and added the chocolate chips. Would Dean stay for a while? She wasn't sure if she liked him. She barely knew him but their first encounter had been him braking into her apartment. Not a good first impression. And then he had hit on her. In front of Sam.

With two spoons she formed the cookies on the baking tray and put it in the oven. Baking in the middle of the night, she had to be insane. But it had been a weird weekend, alone by herself not knowing where Sam was. They were together but that didn't mean they couldn't do things alone. She had her friends and Sam had his. However, Sam being out there somewhere with his mysterious brother? That was weird. Rebecca had said the same thing. And then she had been grilling Jess about said mysterious brother. Was he as hot as Sam? Single?

And Jess had to admit that she knew absolutely nothing about Dean Winchester. What he did for living. If he had a girlfriend. Where he lived. He was good looking, that she could confirm and that was the only information that mattered to Becky.

Jess' mom on the other hand had been really concerned when she had called and Jess had told her that Sam was off for the weekend with his brother. A man who broke into apartments, a fact she better hadn't mentioned. Her mom had been close to call the police.

But now Sam was on his way home and everything would be normal in the morning.

Still humming Jess got the cookies out of the oven and placed them on a plate where Sam would find them for sure. Wrote a note too in case he would be home before she came out of the shower. She had flour in her hair and under her fingernails. Not sexy, so a shower it was. Right when she had turned the water on the doorbell rang.

"Did you lose your key?" She asked not bothering to throw a bathrobe over her nightgown. Sam would appreciate the view and maybe even join her in the shower.

Wetting her lips for the overdue welcome-back-kiss Jess opened the door. Her smile froze.

"Brady?" She didn't even try to hide her confusion. "What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night."

Brady just smiled – more like a shark-like grin – and forced his way past her.

"Brady!" With her mouth open in utterly surprise she closed the door and hurried to catch up with him. "What the hell are you doing here?" She repeated her question.

"Did something happen?" That was the only possibility she could think off why her friend showed up here at this hour. "Sam … did something happen to Sam?"

Which was ridiculous. She had spoken to him less than an hour ago. He was fine.

"He is fine." Brady reassured here still this predatory grin on his face. Jess shivered and was way to aware of the fact that she wasn't properly dressed for visitors. Her bathrobe was in the bathroom where the shower was still running, too, but getting it would mean to leave Brady alone to do … whatever. So she just crossed her arms and tried to not like as uncomfortable as she felt. Something was wrong. With Brady. With this whole situation. She wished Sam would show up right now.

"How do you know?" She asked when his answer sunk in.

"That's why I'm here." He said obviously pleased with himself. "To make sure he'll get a warm welcome." He chuckled as if there was a pun intended which Jess didn't get.

"Did he call you?" How else would he know that Sam was on his way back? On the other hand how did he know that Sam wasn't home in the first place? Jess had only told her mother and Becky. And Becky and Brady weren't really on speaking terms to put it mildly.

"I'm here to have an eye on Sam. That's my job." He said and he sounded serious. As if he got paid for it. "But now it's time for Sam to finish his little vacation. It's time for him to go back to his life."

"What are you talking about?" Jess' confusion turned slowly into annoyance. "_This_ is his life. He has an interview at the law school in a few hours."

_And you can come home any second now_, she begged Sam silently. Brady started to creep her out.

"This?" Brady spread his arms and turned around clearly amused. "This is not his life. This is not his destiny." He paused and looked at her. Hard. "But what would you know? You don't even know him."

That was enough. "What are you talking about? We are together for a year and a half. You were there when we first met. He is my boyfriend. I know him better than anyone." There were thousand little things she knew about Sam nobody else knew. What he liked, what he didn't like, how he tilted his head when he was thinking and the position he slept in. The way he moved and the way he looked at her. They were planning a future together.

"I beg to differ. There is only one person who really knows Sam." He chuckled again as if this was one giant joke. "Sam is with him right now. They belong together. Together on the road doing what they do best. There is no place for you in Sam's life."

"Out!" She yelled right into his face but he only laughed. "Get outa here. Now!"

She wasn't afraid. This was Brady. Maybe he was drunk or on some sort of trip. He didn't know what he was talking about and maybe he would be sorry in the morning but right now Jess only wanted him out of her apartment. She wanted to lock the door behind him. And she really wished Sam would come home.

"Jess, sweet little Jess." Suddenly he stood right in front of her with his face only inches from hers. "You have know idea who Sam Winchester is. What he'd done. What he will do. Do you know what he did this very weekend? No?"

She flinched back when he caressed her cheek.

"Go!" She demanded while she searched for something to hit him over the head with. Oh god, would he hit her? Or worse?

_Not so easy, bastard._ Slowly she backed off a step and reached for the lamp on the table near the couch.

"You are going to die." He said stating a fact.

Her fingers brushed the cool metal of the lamp but before she could grab it, she froze. She couldn't move.

"Do you know what day it is?" Brady's fingers on her face again. She wanted to spit the grin out of his face but she had a hard time breathing. Screaming inside her head was the only thing she could do. She couldn't even blink.

Without her feet moving she somehow moved backwards till she hit the wall. But it didn't stop there. In a forced silence – in her head she was screaming her lungs out – she slid up the wall. Her feet lost contact with the floor and then her head reached the ceiling. Seconds later she stared down on the bed she used to sleep in with Sam. She was going to die, that thought was clear in her mind. Brady would kill her.

Brady grinned up at her. "Looks good." He said. "Ready for our little show?"

He rubbed his hands and tilted his head. From the street Jess could her the distant grumble of an old car. Sam was coming home. Tears fell from her eyes. Now everything would be okay. Sam would make it okay.

"You are going to die without even knowing why. That's really sad, isn't it?" Brady frowned, lost in thoughts for a second. "What do you think? Want to get to know your boyfriend a little better?" He nodded. "Yeah, that should be fun." He stared up at her and his eyes went black. Jess heard the front door open and Sam calling her name. She tried to answer but couldn't. When she looked back at Brady he was gone. And then the world tilted.

tbc


	2. Chapter 2

The world tilted and made Jess dizzy. One second she was on the ceiling staring down on the bed and the next second she stood right next to it.

It was dark but in the dim light she could clearly make out Sam's familiar form under the covers. Leaning forward she noticed he was asleep. Why was he here? He shouldn't be here. And sure as hell shouldn't he be sleeping while Brady … Brady did … She had no idea what exactly had happened.

Maybe it had been a nightmare? But she never had nightmares. Sam was the one with the bad dreams at least in the last few weeks.

"Sam?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper. A hastily look around told her that Brady was gone.

"Sam." Louder now, more urgent. She reached out to grab his shoulder when she noticed the other person in the bed. "What the hell?"

With large steps she made her way around the bed to throw that woman out. This was wrong, this was so wrong. Sam was sleeping with another girl? In her bed?

"Hey, bitch!" She shouted but the woman didn't stir. Then Jess saw her face. A scream on her lips she stumbled backwards.

"No, no, no." She covered her mouth with her hand. This wasn't real, couldn't be real. She was dreaming. It was obvious, wasn't it? She looked down on her sleeping body. This was without a doubt the weirdest dream she ever had.

Pinching herself didn't wake her up so she turned back to Sam. Because, hey, looking at your own sleeping body? It gave her a headache.

So she crouched next to Sam and reached out to stroke his bangs out of his face. Her hand went right through his forehead without any resistance.

"Not freaky at all." She said and hysterical laughter built up in her throat. Her face was only inches from Sam's when he suddenly opened his eyes. She shrieked back but let out a laugh in relief.

"Sam?"

_Can you hear me?_, she wanted to asked but something hold her back. Sam was … off. First only his eyes moved, searching the room while he was listening. Now Jess heard something, too. Somebody was in the house.

Smoothly Sam slid out of the bed without making a sound and went right through Jess on his way to the door.

"You just …" But he was out of the room already. Jess followed him.

"Shouldn't we call the police?" She asked momentarily forgetting her ghostlike state. Sam, however, made his way through the dark apartment with catlike stealth. He moved – Jess had no idea how to describe it – predatorily?

When a dark figure passed them Jess screamed in surprise but Sam kept calm. With one step he was behind the intruder and then they were fighting.

"Sam?" Jess just stood there jaw hanging because this came right out of an action movie. Sam could fight like this? As quick as it started it ended, too. The intruder pinned Sam to the floor.

"Get off him!" Jess screamed and tried to push him off but she stumbled right through him.

"Whoa, easy, tiger." The intruder said.

"Dean?" Sam asked his breath only slightly labored. "You scared the crap out of me."

Dean? Jess turned around. What the hell?

"Cause you're out of practice."

Instead of an answer Sam did something and flipped their position. "Or not. Get off of me."

Sam helped Dean to his feet and then they stood nose to nose.

"What are you doing here?" Sam asked.

"I was looking for a beer."

That Jess remembered. She had woken up by some noises and when Sam hadn't been there she had gone looking for him. She had heard voices and then …

"… would you've picked up?" Dean asked and then the lights went on and Jess, the other Jess, stood in the door.

"Sam?" The other Jess asked and the brothers turned their heads in unison.

"Jess. Hey. Dean, this is my girlfriend, Jessica." Sam introduced her. Moving closer to the other Jess Dean made his comment about the smurfs and from this angle Jess noticed her outfit – the other Jess' outfit – reviled way to much skin. Way to much for everybody except Sam, of course. Somehow she was glad that she was wearing the nightgown now. Which was absurd. Nobody could see her apparently.

"No, whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of her." Sam moved to her side and just for that she loved him. See, she wanted to say to Dean who stood there one against two, he is with me now. I'm his family. You didn't even care for years.

But then Dean said "Dad's on a _hunting trip_" in that tone and from her place next to Dean Jess saw what the other Jess couldn't see. Sam's eyes went dark and his expression changed to something she had never seen on his face before. Like earlier he suddenly seemed dangerous.

"Jess, excuse us. We have to go outside."

Sam threw some clothes on, reassured the other Jess that everything was fine and then went with Dean outside. The other Jess stayed back but Jess stood there unsure if she still should respect her boyfriend's request for privacy or if she should use her ghost-like state – which had the worrying implication of being dead – and spy on the brothers. The decision was taken from her when she moved without actually moving and went straight through the closed door following Sam.

Sam and Dean were already half down the stairs arguing. Dean wanted Sam to come with him to find their dad, that much Jess understood. The rest, however, had to be either some kind of childhood code they shared or absolute nonsense. Devil's gate? Poltergeist? Seriously?

When Sam stated he was done hunting for good she got the impression they weren't talking about deer hunting.

"When I told Dad I was scared of the thing in my closet, he gave me a .45." Sam said standing face to face with his brother. Jess blinked. Sam and a gun? Her Sam? It didn't get better when her Sam proclaimed that he had been nine years old and Dean just went with it.

"Wait." Jess plead her head spinning. "Please, just stop for a second." But they continued as if she wasn't there.

"You know what's out there." Dean said.

Jess didn't. She didn't know what was out there and she wasn't sure if she wanted to find out.

And then Sam dropped the bomb.

His mother was killed? His father was still searching for the killer?

"But we still haven't found the damn thing. So we kill everything we can find."

Sam had killed …? What the hell was going on here?

_You don't even know him,_ Brady's voice echoed in her mind. Back then she had argued but now she couldn't help it and had to agree. There was a lot she didn't know about Sam.

They went outside and when Jess was still too dumbfounded to notice right away she was dragged along with them. Sam went on ranting about their childhood and within two minutes Jess learned more about him than in the two years she had known him.

Who are you, she wanted to ask but it was pointless. Neither of them had acknowledged her presence and it didn't look like that would change any time soon. Which lead to the disturbing question what Brady had done to her.

"So what are you gonna do? You're just gonna live some normal, apple pie life? Is that it?" Dean ask.

"No. Not normal." Sam corrected. "Safe."

"And that's why you ran away." Bitterness in Dean's voice. Jess had decided a while ago – when she had been the other Jess who was upstairs and had no idea of the insanity down here – that she didn't like Dean much. Breaking in and stealing her boyfriend in the middle of the night didn't make a good first impression. Now she sensed the same longing in him she had sensed in Sam when he had a beer too much and missed his brother. Always missed Dean never his dad.

"I was just going to college. It was Dad who said if I was gonna go I should stay gone. And that's what I'm doing."

Jess knew there had been a fight but this words – filled with so much hurt coming out of Sam's mouth –, oh boy, she just wanted to find that man herself to have a few words with him. She reached out to drag Sam in a firm hug but at the moment she wasn't even able to comfort her boyfriend when he needed it.

"Yeah, well, Dad's in real trouble right now. If he's not dead already. I can feel it." Dean just had to make this a life or death scenario. Jess snorted.

"I can't do this alone." All of a sudden he sounded like a little boy who had lost sight of his parents.

"Yes you can." But Jess knew Sam well enough to see the signs. Sam was about to cave in.

"Yeah, well, I don't want to."

And that was it. Sam sighed, avoided his brother's eyes for just a few seconds longer and then looked up and asked: "What was he hunting?"

Dean shot him a look as if he wanted to make sure he was serious and then opened the trunk and the false bottom in it.

"Um … Sam?" Jess stepped back staring between her boyfriend, his brother and the trunk full of weapons. "It's full of weapons. A lot of them."

Judging by the way Sam leaned into the trunk this fact wasn't new to him.

"Who are you?" She asked but nobody answered.

Obviously Sam had left the life his brother still led. Which was what? Criminals? Hitmen? The term _hunt_ got a whole new meaning in that scenario. Hell, for all she knew Sam could be the youngest spawn of a mafia family. Or they had something to do with a drug cartel. Even serial killers seemed a possible explanation by now.

Dean talked about missing people and played the message he had gotten from their father. Besides the static Jess could only make out a word or two.

"You know there's EVP on that?" Sam asked and Dean smirked at him while Jess had no idea what they were talking about. By now she was kinda used to it.

To Jess' surprise there was actual a second message on that tape. Or Dean had just faked it. But Sam bought it and he agreed to go with Dean on this wild goose chase.

"I can't believe it." Jess waved in front of Sam's face. "He comes here with this … this story and you just take off with him?" Took off, she corrected herself. Because this wasn't happening now, this had happened days ago. "This is crazy."

And when Dean just shrugged the interview off and told Sam to skip it, Jess wanted to scratch his eyes out but she couldn't even stomp her foot. Oh, she could, however, when nobody noticed it it lost a lot of the dramatic. Not that she would give a good impression barefoot and in her nightgown.

Then Sam went inside to get his things and Jess had no choice than to follow him. If she didn't move her feet she was dragged along which was really annoying.

On the staircase – they were alone for the first time since this nightmare had started – she tried to reach Sam. She yelled right into his face but he walked through her without noticing. It was frustrating.

"You kept this in here?" With wide eyes she stared at the wicked looking … blade Sam stuffed into his bag right in time so that the other Jess didn't see it. Then he spun his half-ass story about his father and the hunting cabin she hadn't believed the first time she had heard it. Now she stood in front of Sam and his expression was dark and scary.

"Why are you lying to me?" She asked with tears in her eyes. She wanted to wake up. Instead she had to follow Sam back outside where Dean waited in the car.

Figuring she would be dragged along anyway Jess preferred to sit in the car rather than to be somewhere outside – that was a scary thought – so she slipped through the closed door and made herself comfortable in the backseat.


	3. Chapter 3

The brothers put Sam's bag in the trunk and then came around and got into the car. They closed the doors at the same time.

The first minutes they drove in silence. Sam shifted in his seat till he got comfortable and let out a sigh.

"Home sweet home, little brother." Dean said quietly and Sam smiled.

"So, voodoo in New Orleans?" Sam asked after a few moments of comfortable silence. Only Jess in the backseat felt like she had ants all over her body. The whole situation was borderline surreal.

"Yep."

"Can it be more cliche?"

Dean chuckled. "Was after a Jersey Devil with Caleb last month. In Jersey."

Sam stared at him for a second before he burst out laughing.

"You guys are insane, you know that, right?" Jess asked, however, by now she was kinda used to not getting any answers.

"You okay?" Sam became serious, eying his brother closely. "Hurt?"

"'M fine." Dean reassured him. Sam studied his brother for a moment longer before he nodded.

"So, you and Dad work your own gigs these days."

The way Dean shifted he knew where Sam headed. And he didn't like it. Jess leaned in closer, this could indeed become interesting. And it kept her mind from running in circles.

"Sometimes." Dean admitted. "I've worked with Caleb and some others from time to time."

"But Dad is on his solo trips as usual." There was the bitterness again. "Because I can still hear him railing about that he needs my backup, that you need my backup." He spread his hands in frustration and Jess really wanted to know what he was talking about. "Looks like you guys manage quite well without me."

"Looks like."

Silence fell between them and it wasn't as comfortable as before, leaving Jess wondering why Sam had agreed to this trip in the first place. It didn't look like the brothers got along very well.

"I missed you." Sam spoke without looking at his brother. "I wanted to get out but I never wanted to lose you."

Dean clenched his jaw and nodded. "Hey man, I get it. You didn't want to mix your new live with … the old one. I get it." It hurt him nevertheless judging by the hard line of his jaw and the flexing muscles. But before Sam could say anything Dean turned the music on and Metallica played.

Jess recognized the song. Sam didn't like it, didn't like anything from Metallica or any similar band. She waited for him to say something or to switch the music off but instead he smiled and slid further down in his seat.

"Try to sleep for a while." Dean said with poorly masked affection in his voice.

The engine roared and the music played and Sam didn't really fit in the seat and he was with his brother he hadn't seen in two years and their father was missing – probably dead according to Dean – and Sam slept. His jacket between his head and the window Sam slept deep and without nightmares.

Dean smiled at him, fingers drumming on the wheel while he drove them safely through the night.

Jess in the backseat felt a sting in her chest she recognized as jealousy. Sam shouldn't be able to sleep like a baby in this situation.

"Just you and me, then?" She asked but Dean didn't react. "Wanna tell me what this monster talk is all about?" She gave him a minute to answer. "Not much of a talker, aren't you?"

With nothing interesting going on Jess had time to think. Which was probably the only thing she actually _could_ do. After her encounter with Brady and hearing Sam and Dean talking casual about monsters she had to admit that Brady probably wasn't quite what she had thought he was. Black eyes for sure weren't normal and doing to her what he did ... hell, she didn't even have a name for it. So she was stuck with Sam while he relived his trip with Dean, so far she got it. What really bothered her was Brady's open announcement to kill her. With the weapons and the training the Winchester brothers apparently had they could probably help her if they only knew she was in trouble.

"Move something." She mumbled and looked around. "Like in this move. Ghost." And she fully got the irony that Patrick Swayze's character was named Sam in the movie. "I just hope I don't have to find a medium to get through to Sam."

An hour later Jess had an headache and the burger wrapper she had tired to move lay unimpressed next to her on the seat. One time it had moved right when her hand touched it and she had yelled in excitement till she had realized that it had been only a bump in the road.

Frustrated Jess leaned back and nearly slipped through the back of the seat. This out of body experience – she didn't like the term _ghost_ in any relation to her because it implied way to much _I'm dead_ for her liking – really sucked, she decided. Thinking about her current state she noticed that she wasn't tired or hungry for that matter. Knowing her body she should feel her bladder by now but didn't. She could feel the nightgown she was wearing and her body was solid to her own touch, however, beyond that there was nothing.

The sun was up and Sam was still asleep when Dean stopped for gas. Sam woke up to the closing door and it took him one look around to relax back into his seat. And that was just another wrong in Jess' book. Yes, maybe she was jealous but Sam shouldn't feel so comfortable around his brother.

The brother who hadn't thrown him out like their father had but who didn't do anything to stop it either. Dean himself had confirmed that he had no contact whatsoever with Sam for two years.

With a smile Sam ran his fingers over the dashboard and it turned into a wide grin when he found the old box filled with the even older cassette tapes. Who even used those nowadays, Jess wondered. Apparently Dean did.

Door open, one foot outside Sam sat sideways in the seat skimming through the tapes which gave Jess a perfect angle to have a look, too. Hell, she could just lean through him if she wanted to but just the thought made her shudder. It was just wrong.

Metallica, AC/DC, Motörhead she read on the cases but when Sam opened one the label on the tape said something different.

"Dean." Sam whispered and ran his fingers over the plastic.

Jess swallowed against the lump in her throat. Her brother did the same thing. When he wanted to switch something out – cassette tapes, CDs, DVDs, even games – he didn't bother to find the right case when he had an empty one already in his hand. Which meant finding something was a real pain in the ass and more than once they had been on the chase for one movie they intended to watch and ended with another one they had found along the way. Jess smiled at the similarity to her brother but then straightened. She didn't want to like anything about Dean Winchester. Except for his brother, of course. Him she liked. A lot.

"Breakfast?" Dean asked from behind waving bags of junk food.

"At least you could feed my boyfriend right." She muttered. It helped a lot in the not-liking-Dean-department when he revealed that he and their dad lived from credit card scams, though. Whatever it was they did for "living". Hunting was mentioned again and apparently it wasn't very well payed for that matter. Whatever it was, Jess was really glad that Sam got out of it and she prayed that he wouldn't go back to it.

Sam on the other hand didn't seem to bother about his family's criminal way of living and teased Dean about the tapes instead.

"Well, house rules, Sammy." Dean snagged the tape out of Sam's hand and popped it into the player. "Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole."

"You know, Sammy is a chubby twelve-year-old." Sam had to raise his voice over the music. "It's Sam." He insisted and Jess wondered what took him so long to set that straight. Nobody called Sam _Sammy_. At least not a second time.

Dean just laughed and cranked the music up while Jess tried to picture Sam as a Sammy. He was right, Sammy just sounded young and chubby, somebody who got his cheeks pinched by aunts with names like Agatha. Just like a Bill had to be fat in her mind or a Jules was some kind of aristocrat. It was stupid, however, some names came with a picture no matter how many people she met to prove her wrong.

After an unhealthy breakfast in the car – Sam helped himself from Dean's bag which Dean had set between them in easy reach from both sides – Sam made a few calls.

With an icy fist clenching her stomach Jess listened into the conversations. Their father was probably dead, a fact she had successfully shoved back into her mind until now. Until now when Sam called hospitals and morgues to find a man matching his father's description.

"All right. So, there's no one matching Dad at the hospital or morgue." Sam shut the phone after the last call. He hadn't asked about a John Winchester once.

"So that's something, I guess." Sam said and Dean gave a grim nod.

Wouldn't use his real name, Jess guessed and tried to ignore the uneasy feeling in her stomach. In Sam's situation she would have no idea where even to start, who to call to get the information she needed. For Sam it seemed easy, natural and she didn't like it. Not at all.


	4. Chapter 4

"Check it out." Dean said and Jess looked around to find out what he meant. They had stopped near a bridge. Police cars with flashing lights were blocking the bridge with another car in the middle. Jess recognized the Sheriff's emblem.

For a moment the brothers just sat there, Dean clearly pondering his options. Then Dean leaned over and with a smirk he opened the gloves department and got out a little box.

"Holly shit." Dean's face smiled at Jess from various IDs, an FBI badge just being one of them. With another smirk he grabbed one badge and was out of the car the next second. Sam only hesitated for a heartbeat before he followed his brother.

Too stunned to get out of the car by herself Jess was dragged along with Sam. Apparently ten feet was the maximal distance she could get apart from Sam. Sliding along without moving her feet was irritating and she avoided to think about it too much. There were other things on her mind at the moment anyway.

"Sam." She hurried to catch up with him. "Sam, you have to stop him. Sam!" But he ignored her and fell in step behind his brother. All hesitation and uncertainty which had flashed over his face in the car were now gone.

Jess could see how this would play out. As soon as Dean would flash his fake badge they were doomed.

"He'll get arrested and you with him." They were going to jail. The interview on Monday, Sam's whole future was on stake. With a criminal record Sam's dream of being a lawyer was history.

"Dean." She tried the older one. "Don't. Please don't. You're ruining his life. Can't you see that?"

Despite her protest the brothers went straight for the deputies.

"No sign of struggle, no footprints, no fingerprints. Spotless. It's almost too clean." One of the deputies said.

"So, this kid Troy. He's dating your daughter, isn't he?" The other man asked with sympathy in his voice. Little town where everybody knew everybody, Jess thought and felt a sting in her chest. Somebody died here. This was a crime scene. A murder scene. They had no business here.

And Sam and Dean entered the scene as if they belonged there.

"You fellas had another one like this just last month, didn't you?" Dean interrupted their little conversation. All of a sudden he sounded … professional? Jess blinked and hope sparked up that Sam would leave this bridge not in handcuffs.

"And who are you?"

Dean flashed his fake badge and Jess almost died when he introduced both of them as federal marshals. He didn't even missed a beat when the deputy pointed out his young age.

"You did have another one just like this, correct?" Dean said and he sounded like some kind of law official and Jess guessed this wasn't the first time he'd pulled this stunt.

Oh god Sam, what have you gotten into?

"Yeah, that's right. About a mile up the road. There have been others before that." The deputy still had that skeptical look on his face but he answered the question.

"So, this victim, you knew him?" Sam entered the conversation and Jess just stared at him. He had changed, too. Just like Dean he had slipped into this … she didn't even know what to call it. Con-act?

Dean circled the car taking in the scene. "Any connection between the victims, besides that they're all men?"

"No. Not as far as we can tell." The deputy had to admit.

"So what's the theory?" Sam asked and Jess just willed him to shut the hell up. Shut up and get outa here, she wanted to yell at him. But she was damned to just watch.

"Honestly, we don't know. Serial murder? Kidnapping ring?" The man looked utterly lost. In a town like this it was probably the biggest case he had ever worked.

"Well, that is exactly the kind of crack police work I'd expect out of you guys." Jess couldn't believe Dean got away with that. And then Sam stomped on Dean's foot and one the way back to their car – Jess could feel the deputy watching them – Dean smacked Sam on the head and they were acting like five-year-olds.

"Come on. They don't really know what's going on. We're all alone on this. I mean, if we're going to find Dad we've got to get to the bottom of this thing ourselves." They stood face to face.

"What _is_ going on?" Jess couldn't help to ask but was ignored as usual.

_They are all the same._ Jess looked around to find out who was speaking but they were alone, the deputies to far behind to talk to them without yelling. And she had clearly heard a woman speaking.

_He's just like all the others._ Jess shuddered, why was it so cold all of a sudden?

Then they were interrupted by the Sheriff and two FBI agents – Jess nearly died from a heart attack – and the voice was gone. If it had been there in the first place. Despite Dean's comment about Mulder and Scully they made it back to the car with no further trouble.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Jess asked nobody specific when they got back into the car. Did they even realize what kind of trouble they could get themselves into? And as long as she was angry at them she didn't have to think about hearing voices.

"Whatever is causing this." Sam said and put the badge back into that awful little box of evil. "It's still around."

"So most likely Dad is still around too." Dean finished the thought and started the car.

Jess had no idea how the missing young man was connected to their father but she'd just roll with it. What else could she do?

_Maybe he's a serial killer._ She couldn't quite shake off that thought. She'd always wanted to learn more about Sam's family, his past, but now she understood his reservation.

"I'm starving." Dean announced. "Let's find us something to eat and then we'll start asking some questions."

They found a diner – not exactly a place Jess would have chosen – and Dean took the lead. Without looking if Sam was behind him he hold the door open for his brother while he scanned the diner. Like some kind of warrior. Or a predator. Jess shuddered.

Sam looked behind himself before he let the door fell shut – a polite thing she'd always loved about him – and then the door shut right into her face. Jess flinched back before she recalled her current state. By then she was already dragged through the closed door. That was really annoying. She could get used to a lot but that was just unnerving.

Passing empty booths the brothers headed for the one in the back. There was no where-do-you-want-to-sit? like she knew from every visit to a restaurant she had ever been to.

Without thinking Dean took his seat with his back against the wall and Sam sat opposite to him. It looked natural, a well practiced ritual and there was the jealousy again. Sam just shouldn't fall in sync with another person like that. With another person but her, of course. For sure not with his brother he hadn't seen in ages. Demonstrative she sat beside Sam. Too bad neither of the brothers noticed it.

The waitress took their orders – Jess still didn't feel any hunger or thirst – and Dean followed her with his eyes.

"I could go with a piece of that ass." Jess wondered if that guy could think with anything but his dick. They were on a rescue mission, this was not the time for flirting. And not only because Jess hoped they could rescue her too when they were at it. She could go with some rescuing.

However, when the waitress brought their food and she leaned far more into Dean than necessary and gave him a good view into her cleavage he didn't seem to mind. He nearly drooled over her exposed skin. Cheap and slutty, Jess snorted. Figures.

Sam on the other hand ignored his brother's behavior completely, the printouts Dean had shown him earlier were far more interesting.

"Any ideas?" Dean asked around a mouthful of burger. With a sigh Sam set the papers aside and dug into his food.

"Could be a lot of things." He answered after a thoughtful minute. "We only know for sure that men disappear. Could be a haunting or something is hungry but they never found any leftovers." He chewed on some fries.

"It could have some kind of lair the officials haven't found." The way Dean emphasized _officials_ showed once again his contempt for the authorities.

Where they really discussing gruesome murders over lunch? Suddenly Jess felt really glad that she hadn't eaten for … she couldn't even remember for how long.

"So research it is." Dean sighed and reached for the salt shaker. "Figures, empty." He let out a sigh but shook it one more time just in case. "Who the hell lets himself run out of salt?"

Sam chuckled. "You could get a few pounds out of the trunk."

Dean glared at him and they ate in silence for a while. Jess used the time and tried to move the salt shaker. Like everything else it was like it was made of air. Her hand went through without any resistance. But something was different.

Her fingers tingled. The first few times she gave nothing about it but then she stuck her finger right in the shaker and it got really uncomfortable really quickly. After a few seconds she had to pull back, it started to hurt.

"What the hell?" She studied her finger but it looked perfectly normal.

No reaction with the pepper shaker or the table. Even when she reached through Sam's meal it didn't feel hot or anything. She stuck her hand in Sam's head with the same result. Like she held her hand in the air and not through the side of her boyfriend's head. The image, however, was really disturbing so she pulled back quickly.

"Look at that." Dean broke the silence nodding at something on the street.

Sam turned his head. "Is that the girlfriend? What was her name? Amy?"


	5. Chapter 5

Dean threw some bills on the table and then they hurried to catch up with a girl tacking up some posters. A young man smiled from the poster which announced "Missing Troy Squire".

"You must be Amy." Dean approached her and Jess could see the anxiety written all over her face. Her boyfriend was missing. Jess reached out for Sam's arm which she couldn't really grab but she just needed to be close to him. The last weekend – or the current one in some way – had given her a first impression of that feeling and she'd known that Sam was alright. Amy didn't know. Amy could only hope.

Overhearing the brothers for the last hours Jess had little hope they'd find Troy alive. Or at all.

When Dean introduced them as Troy's uncles Sam didn't even flinch and just rolled with it. Two minutes later they were back at the diner. Amy and her friend sat on one side and the brothers on the opposite which left Jess to stand awkwardly at the end of the table. With Dean next to her and not Sam so she focused on the girls.

Typical kids who tried to rebel against their parents with a little bit of goth and devil stuff as Amy phrased it playing with her pentagram necklace.

"Actually, it means just the opposite. A pentagram is protection against evil. Really powerful." Sam said and then paused before he added: "I mean, if you believe in that kind of thing." Which Sam did, obviously.

How do you know this kind of stuff, Jess wondered. The longer she stayed with the brothers the more she realized that she knew nothing about Sam.

"Okay. Thank you, Unsolved Mysteries." Dean leaned forward and hurried to chance the subject. "Here's the deal, ladies. The way Troy disappeared, something's not right. So if you've heard anything …"

The girls looked at each other.

"What is it?"

Amy's friend hesitated for a moment longer clearly knowing that whatever she was about to say would sound ridiculous.

"Well, it's just... I mean, with all these guys going missing, people talk."

"What do they talk about?" Sam and Dean asked as one and neither of them seemed surprised at all. Instead they waited for the girl to tell her story.

And she told her story. Some urban legend about a hitchhiking ghost. Jess stifled a laugh and waited for at least Sam to laugh as well but Sam didn't even smile.

After a few more questions – the last one where the library would be – the brothers thanked the girls and left.

"Sounds like some kind of haunting to me." Dean had his hands deep in his pockets.

"It started in the early eighties." Sam's steps fell in sync with his brother's. "And it's always the same road. Shouldn't be too hard." He let out a sigh.

"What?"

"Dad is one of the best hunters I know." Sam said without looking at his brother who shot him look. "Okay, the best hunter I know." Sam corrected himself with half of a smile.

"Damn straight."

"He came here how long ago? This hunt should be finished by now."

"There is not such a thing as easy a hunt." Dean said it as if he recited some credo. "You know that."

"Yeah, I know." And Sam knew, Jess could see it in his face and his whole posture. Sam knew too well.

_Dad's in real trouble right now. If he's not dead already._ Dean's words from the other night echoed through her mind.

_Hunting trip, hunt, hunter._ The words rotated in Jess' mind. Mother killed by … something. Last night she hadn't given much about that word but now …

What were they? Some kind of Ghostbusters? That was insane. And no she hadn't heard the voice of a ghost at the bridge. There was a reasonable explanation for that. Maybe with all the stress her mind had played tricks on her.

Their next stop was the library. Jess had no idea what they wanted there but the Winchesters went straight for the computers.

Dean sat down in front of a one of them and opened the archive search page for the Jericho Herald.

What exactly are you doing? Jess smacked Dean in the head just for the hell of it. They were here to find their father and what were they doing? This didn't make any sense.

Deer hunting up at the cabin, she thought of Sam's words which were clearly a lie. But that would have made sense. This? Not so much.

Dean typed "Female Murder Hitchhiking" but got no result. He tried some variations with the same result of zero. At his side Sam's fingers itched and he reached out for the keyboard.

"Let me try."

With a "I got it." Dean smacked his hand away but Sam had enough of it. He pushed Dean's chair and his brother with it out of the way and took over the computer.

"Dude!" Dean smacked Sam's shoulder. "You're such a control freak." But he let his brother take the lead.

Sam gnawed at his bottom lip, thinking. "So angry spirits are born out of violent death, right?"

"Yeah." Dean confirmed as if that was a well known fact and Jess just stared at the two of them. Sam had the most important interview of his life coming up on Monday and here he was on some wild goose chase? And c'mon, ghosts? Really?

"Well, maybe it's not murder." With that Sam replaced "murder" with "suicide" and got one result and a glance from Dean. While Sam read the article – that poor woman losing her children like that – Jess had a closer look at the pictures. The bridge on one of them was the same they had been to only hours ago. A fact Dean noticed too.

Jess had watched Sam studying before but then she had the opportunity to do something else. Now she was stuck with him with nothing else to do than to read over his shoulder while he went methodically though years of newspaper articles.

At some point – shortly after they had found the first article about the suicide – Dean wandered off to get some _local inside_. Jess snorted at that. She had seen the librarian who had shown them the computers and she had noticed the way Dean had only eyes for her chest or ass depending on what side of her had been facing him.

It was the same librarian who shooed them out at the closing hour. And if a little piece of paper made its way into Dean's pocket it wasn't her business.

"I could eat." Dean announced.

"You can always eat." Sam chuckled and fell into step with his brother again. Like he belonged there. Jess had always to hurry if she wanted to stay at his side. Or he slowed down to match her pace but he had to do this consciously. With Dean it seemed naturally.

They visited the diner again – their third visit since they had arrived – and what had they done all day? Impersonated US Marshalls, bothered a poor girl about her missing boyfriend by claiming to be said boyfriend's uncles and hours of reading old newspapers. They hadn't done anything to find their father, Jess may point out. And they hadn't bother to find a room for the night either.

They ate and Sam used the time to catch up on some people he apparently hadn't heard from for quite a while.

"So you and Caleb had a gig in Jersey?" Sam went back to their earlier conversation. "How is he?"

"Same old pain in the ass." Dean answered with a grin. "A little rusty on the hunting side but he owes me so if you ever need something …"

"I don't think I need an arsenal at Stanford." Sam chuckled but Jess noticed the pain flashing over Dean's face.

"You really should call Bobby once in a while and Pastor Jim." Dean was suddenly very interested in his food. "They ask about you every time I see one of them, you know?"

"Maybe I will." But it was clear that he won't. "How is Charlie?"

"Dead."

"Oh." However, Sam didn't seemed surprised. "Andrea?"

Dean shook his head. "Haven't seen or heard from her in the last months. But I'm not the most social type so …" He spread his hand in a helpless gesture.

"That's exactly why I wanted out." Sam said fiddling with his napkin. "Why I wanted a clean cut."

They looked each other in the eye and Jess got the impression she missed a whole conversation.

"Yeah." Dean broke eye contact first, emotions flashing over his face before he got his features back under control. Then he changed the topic. "Hey, you know who teamed up?"

"Who?"

"Gerry and Foster." His face lit up as if this was the news of the year, maybe it was.

Sam stared at him. "Wow, that's just … wow …"

"Exactly my reaction, dude." He grinned around a mouthful of half-chewed something. That guy needed some table manners, seriously. Jess shuddered.

Still in shock Sam just stared a minute longer. "Are they just hunting partners or … you know … more?"

"Dude, I'm eating." Dean swallowed and shook his head in disgust. They both cracked up laughing and Jess sat beside Sam but he could be on the moon. He was a fun guy with a warm and open laugh but with his brother Jess saw a side of him she never knew. And it hurt. Didn't he trust her?

"Wanna check out the bridge first or find a motel?" Dean asked, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Bridge first."


	6. Chapter 6

By the time they reached the bridge it had become dark. The car had been removed and the bridge stretched out before them quietly. Jess shuddered and wouldn't mind to stay in the backseat. This was getting creepier by the minute. She had no idea what Sam and Dean hoped to find. Even if that poor woman who took her own life here years ago had something to do with whatever was going on – and that idea was just ridiculous – there wouldn't be anything left to find.

"Shotguns?" Sam asked and that word out of his mouth was just so wrong.

Dean shook his head. "Don't know if the Sheriff's still lurking around. Besides, we'll have a quick look and be right back."

So they got out of the car and Jess had no other choice than to follow them. Staying close to Sam didn't seem to be the worst thing in the world either.

"Get a grip, girl." Jess tried to reassure herself. It was a bridge. In the dark. Where at least two people had died. Nothing to worry about, right? She hurried to catch up with Sam.

The brothers stopped near the middle of the bridge – where Troy's car had been – and leaned over the railing looking down to the river.

"You better not fall down there, Sam." Jess muttered but got a look herself. A river, nothing special about it.

"So this is where Constance took the swan dive." Dean looked around.

"So you think Dad would have been here?" Sam looked over to Dean.

"Well, he's chasing the same story and we're chasing him." Dean walked down the bridge and Sam followed him after a second.

"Okay, so now what?" Sam asked. Jess knew that tone. There was an argument lurking just around the corner but Dean seemed oblivious to that.

"Now we keep digging until we find him. Might take a while."

Jess opened her mouth to tell him what he could do with his "might take a while". Probably good he couldn't hear her. What was he thinking? Dragging Sam out here on this stupid goose chase while the chance of his life waited for him on Monday? But Sam beat her to it. And him Dean could hear.

"Dean, I told you, I've gotta get back by Monday."

"Monday. Right. The interview." As if he had forgotten. Jess snorted. "Yeah, I forgot. You're really serious about this, aren't you? You think you're just going to become some lawyer? Marry your girl?

"Maybe. Why not?" Defiant Sam at his best. And he would marry her? Really? Jess fought the urge to pose in front of Dean and yell a "ha" into his face. But then Dean continued to talk: "Does Jessica know the truth about you? I mean, does she know about the things you've done?"

Sam stepped closer, looking his brother in the eye. And Jess wondered what else Sam hadn't bother to mention.

"No, and she's not ever going to know."

"Well, that's healthy." Jess was with Dean with that point. They would have a really long conversation as soon as Sam got home. Which maybe would be too late, the little voice whispered in her mind but she ignored it for the moment. This was far too interesting.

"You can pretend all you want, Sammy. But sooner or later you're going to have to face up to who you really are."

Dean turned around and kept walking. Sam and Jess followed. Maybe now she would get a name for what they actually did. Something better than hunter.

"And who's that?"

"One of us." Okay that was helpful. But Sam seemed to know exactly what Dean meant. With two long steps he was in front of Dean.

"No. I'm not like you. This is not going to be my life."

"You have a responsibility to …"

"To Dad? And his crusade? If it weren't for pictures I wouldn't even know what Mom looks like. And what difference would it make? Even if we do find the thing that killed her, Mom's gone. And she isn't coming back."

"Oh, Sam." Jess whispered. So that was why Sam never ever mentioned his mother.

Then Dean grabbed Sam's collar and shoves him up a pillar. For a second Jess was sure he would punch Sam in the face.

"Don't talk about her like that." He said in a low voice before he let go of his brother and walked away.

"Sam, are you alright?" Jess tried to cup his face and wanted to cry when her fingers couldn't touch his skin. "Did he hurt you?" Of course Sam didn't answer and stepped right through her.

Following him Jess turned just in time to watch a woman jumping of the bridge. All three of them sprinted to the railing searching for the woman – the face had been familiar, though – but Jess couldn't see anything besides the water deep down in the dark. Where had the woman even come from? A second ago they had been alone and it wasn't that somebody could sneak up on them on a bridge.

The brothers were still searching for the woman when suddenly an engine came to life. They turned and stared into the headlights of Dean's car. Blinded by the light Jess couldn't tell who was behind the wheel.

"Who's driving your car?" Sam asked and Dean fished his keys out of his pocket. As if that proved anything. Jess would bet that Dean could hot-wire a car in seconds.

Then the car jerked into motion.

"Boys?" Jess just stared at the upcoming car. Whoever was driving wouldn't try to overrun them, wouldn't he? Then she was pulled backwards when Sam started to run.

Jess turned and tried to keep Sam's pace but it was a lost cause. More dragged than actual running she followed the brothers. They were fast, long legs eating up the asphalt but it was a long way to solid ground. And the car was definitely faster.

"Sam, run!" Jess screamed and could already see him being crushed by the car. No way he could outrun a car. Jess didn't feel it but the hood was already past her – _this thing is driving through me_ – which meant it was less than ten feet behind Sam.

Jess looked behind – her nose was way too close to the windshield – and now she could see the driver. It was the same woman she had seen earlier. The same woman she had seen jumping of the bridge and whose picture had been in the newspaper. And she looked really pissed. Murderous.

"You are not killing him!" Jess screamed at her and to her surprise the woman made eye contact with her. Not sure who was more surprised Jess hold the stare for a second longer and then reached through the windshield. If she could only grab the wheel … but of course her hands moved right through. But they didn't go through the woman. Their hands touched – it felt like dipping her hand in ice water – and then the woman was gone. The car stopped, the engine went silent, the headlights fell dark.

"Sam, did you see that?" Jess asked staring at her hand. "I did … I don't know what I just did. Sam?" She looked around but neither Winchester brother was in sight. She was alone on the bridge.

"Sam?" She asked again despite that she knew he wouldn't answer her. The icy feeling she had felt in her hand seconds ago spread though her whole body. She was alone.

"Dean?" Sam's voice bellowed right next to her. "Dean!"

Jess ran to the railing, tried and failed to brace herself on the metal construction – this no resistance thing really got on her nerves – and found herself hanging mid-air ten feet below Sam who had barely caught himself on the edge of the bridge.

"Thank god." For a second she had been sure that Sam was dead. Which was ridiculous because she knew he would come home the night to Monday.

From the river Dean answered and Jess couldn't stop laughing. This was so insane. She was floating in the air and if Dean could see her he'd get a nice view under her nightgown. But he couldn't and she hold the fabric close nevertheless.

The ghost of a suicide jumper drove a car and she stopped her. She had no idea how she did it but she had stopped the ghost. And she didn't even believe in ghosts. Considering her own state it was kinda hypocritical but who cared? She was just hanging around and waited till Sam went far enough for her to get her feet on the ground again. Sort of.

At least at this point the bridge was low enough for Dean to survive his jump without any injuries. He still wasn't her best friend and if Sam decided not to see his brother for another two years it would be totally fine with her but she didn't want him to die or break his leg or something.

They regrouped at the car and Dean checked the inside, under the hood and everywhere else before he even let Sam near it.

"Your car all right?" Sam asked when Dean had finished his inspection. Jess stayed away from Dean as far as possible. She couldn't touch anything or feel anything but sure a hell she could smell everything. And Dean stunk.

"Yeah, whatever she did to it, seems all right now. That Constance chick, what a bitch!" He yelled his anger into the night without response and then settled on the hood of his car.

"Well, she doesn't want us digging around, that's for sure."

"You haven't seen her face." Jess added with a shudder. That woman was out to kill somebody.

"So where's the job go from here, genius?" Sam sat beside his brother and for a moment they both looked lost. Dean flicked mud off his fingers, he was coated from head to toe with that stuff.

If anybody would bother to ask Jess' opinion the next step should involve a hot shower for Dean.

Sam sniffed audible. "You smell like a toilet."


	7. Chapter 7

A/N I know they arrived at the motel in daylight but I figured they need a few hours sleep over the weekend. So this chapter is only 99% canon, don't sue me.

* * *

By the time they reached the motel – seriously Sam, you want to spent a night in this fleabag? – the mud on Dean had mostly dried and every move he made produced little clouds of dust. And the car smelled like a cesspit.

"My car will stink for weeks." Dean complained and Jess grinned. If she didn't have to sit in the car too it would have been even more funny. And it kept her from thinking about ghosts. What the hell did Sam got himself into?

Jess wasn't surprised when Sam didn't even bat an eyelash when Dean wanted to pay for the room with his fake credit card. What surprised them all was the fact that apparently John Winchester – under a fake name of course – had a room in this establishment as well. So the brothers didn't take the room and went to look for their father first.

"His truck isn't here." Dean pointed out before he tried the door. "Locked."

While Dean stood guard Sam picked the lock and Jess didn't know what disturbed her more the fact that her boyfriend could pick a lock or that he had his own lock-pick set in a little leather case.

"Whoa." Sam stood in the door and blocked Jess' view. When he finally moved a few steps into the room Jess caught a glimpse of the inside. Every serial killer on TV had a room exactly like this.

"I don't think he's been here for a couple of days at least." Dean sniffed at an old burger and if he could smell it through his own odor it had to be really bad. In front of Jess Sam knelt down and fingered some white stuff on the floor.

"Salt, cats-eye shells … he was worried. Trying to keep something from coming in." He said as if that made any sense at all. How could a line of salt keep something out? But then Sam moved farther into the room to have a closer look at the walls covered with papers.

Jess moved along with him but stopped cold at the salt line. For the first time since this nightmare had started she felt something solid. If she didn't count the ghost but a ghost could hardly count as solid, right?

Sam moved deeper into the room and they were now close to the magical ten feet radius they could get apart.

"Sam!" She screamed in raising panic. An invisible wall in front of her and the crushing push from behind. She didn't know if her ribs could break in her current state but she was about to find out.

"What have you got here?" Oblivious to her little problem Sam moved along the wall looking at articles and notes plastering the wall. And Jess moved with him, sliding along the invisible wall, nearly crushed between it and the force from behind. She couldn't breathe. Her vision grayed around the edges and she couldn't breathe. _I'm dying. I'm dying right next to Sam and he doesn't even know._ The thought was clear in her mind and filled her eyes with tears.

"Centennial Highway victims." Dean answered Sam's question but his voice came from far away. Jess didn't even struggle anymore, she welcomed the calmness in her mind. But suddenly like the cork of a champagne bottle Jess popped through the line of salt. Falling to hands and knees she gulped air into her lungs. Looking down she noticed a little break in the line where Sam had probed the salt.

"Okay." She took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "Salt can keep things out." She had no idea what was so special about salt but made a mental note to use that little break in the line next time.

"I don't get it. I mean, different men, different jobs, ages, ethnicities. There's always a connection, right? What do these guys have in common?" Dean studied the posters of the men who had disappeared on or near that bridge. The same people he had shown Sam earlier. But there was unfamiliar stuff, too. A lot of it.

"Okay, guys." Jess stood up and turned around taking in the whole scene. "I don't want to insult somebody but this is creepy."

"Dad figured it out." Sam said from behind her.

"What do you mean?"

"He found the same article we did. Constance Welch. She's a woman in white."

Jess had no idea what that was but apparently Dean knew exactly what it meant.

"You sly dogs." Something dirty judging by the grin on his face. "All right, so if we're dealing with a woman in white, Dad would have found the corpse and destroyed it."

Destroying her corpse? By now nothing should shock her anymore but Jess couldn't help it. Fake credit cards she could accept, fake badges maybe too. But the way the brothers talked about destroying the remains of a woman? Jess stared at Sam. Brady had been right, she knew nothing about him.

Dean turned to the bathroom to get cleaned up while Sam was already searching for an address of the husband who they could ask where his wife was buried. To dig her up.

"Hey, Dean?" Sam said in a tone that made his brother stop immediately. "What I said earlier, about Mom and Dad, I'm sorry." This was the Sam she knew. The soft, understanding guy with the warm eyes who wanted to be friends with everybody. And of course Dean was the pighead who had to turn down the apology with a stupid "No chick-flick moments".

"All right. Jerk."

"Bitch." And with that Dean disappeared into the bathroom.

Brothers, Jess threw her hands up.

While Dean took a shower Sam investigated the walls closer. At the mirror he found a picture of a man with two boys. All three of them were smiling into the camera. Jess knew the man from the picture of Sam's parents he kept on the sideboard in their apartment. The only picture of his family he had. So the boys in this one had to be Sam and Dean. With a sad smile Sam picked it up.

"You really miss them, don't you?" Jess had no idea what kind of fallout had led to the clean cut San had made to separate his old and new life but now she could see how much he missed his family. When the shower went silent Sam stuffed the picture into his pocket and wiped his eyes with the heel of his hand.

"I'd say we sleep a few hours and in the morning we'll see if we can find the husband." Dean said and headed for the double bed. "You don't mind if we share?"

"As long as you stay on your side." Sam yawned and they settled in.

Minutes later Jess was hit by the feeling of a déjà vu. Sam was sleeping on his side just like the night before and behind him the lump of another person. This time it was Dean and not the other Jess but it didn't make the situation better. Jess wasn't tired and she doubted that she could sleep. It was too dark to read any of the stuff at the walls and as fascinating the line of salt was, after running into an invisible wall a few times it got kinda old.

"What is with the salt?" She wondered and turned back to Sam. Kneeling at the side of the bed she looked him in the face – he slept peaceful without nightmares – and had only her thoughts for company. Had Brady already killed her like he had said he would or was there still time for Sam to save her? She didn't know but had no way to tell Sam to hurry, anyway.

"Please, Sam." She whispered into his ear. "Come home. I don't want to die in a nightgown."

They woke late in the morning but it had been a long night. Jess, however, had been pacing for hours willing them to wake up.

"Hey, man. I'm starving, I'm gonna grab a little something to eat in that diner down the street. You want anything?" Dean came out of the bathroom and grabbed his jacket.

"No." Sam sat on the bed listening to the voice-mail Jess had left him. It was kinda weird to hear her own voice coming out of the speaker.

"Aframian's buying." Dean tried again but Sam shook his head. With a sigh Dean left only to call Sam's phone the second he got out of the door.

Sam frowned at the caller ID before he answered. "What?"

"Dude, five-o, take off." And with that the other Sam was back. The dark and scary one.

"What about you?" He asked already peeking through the curtains. Jess followed him to have a look herself and to listen farther into the conversation, of course.

"Uh, they kinda spotted me. Go find Dad." Came Dean's voice out of the speaker and Jess saw the deputy they had met at the bridge the other day approaching Dean.

"Shit." Sam muttered and shut the phone.

This was it. They got Dean and in a second they would get Sam as well and even if he got out of custody before Monday this could mean the end of his career as a lawyer before it had even started. And all because of Dean.

While Jess just stood there like a deer in the headlights Sam was moving. He grabbed a few things and was out of the bathroom window a second later. From the distance Jess could hear the breaking of the front door but by then they were already out of sight.

"Sam." Jess hissed. "What the hell are you doing?"

Sam stopped not far from the motel and hid behind some bushes. From here Jess saw Dean who was forced into a car while a deputy came out of the room.

"Nobody here." He yelled and then they drove away. Sam watched the whole scene in silence.

"You know what, Sam?" Jess said. "The scariest thing about this is not that Dean got arrested and just busted your whole future." She paused to give him a chance to react in some way which he didn't. "The scariest thing is that you are not freaked at all."

They sat behind the bushes for quite a while before Sam got up and walked back to the motel.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jess whispered looking around if anybody could see them. Everything seemed quiet. "You are going back for the car?" She couldn't believe it but hurried to slip in as well.


	8. Chapter 8

Jess half expected Sam to follow Dean to the Sheriff's department which would be kinda stupid. It would get him arrested as well but for some reason Sam cared for his brother. She let out a sigh. Family, you love them and you hate them, she guessed. And if her brother was in trouble she'd be their to help him, too.

"You could just turn the car around and come home." She said and knew at the same second that Sam wouldn't listen to her even if he could listen to her.

However, he didn't drive into town. Instead he dug up a crumbled piece of paper.

Joseph Welch, Jess read and below there was an address.

"Seriously?" She couldn't help but ask. "You really want to bother that man?"

Okay, maybe his dead wife was some kind of ghost, killing men for some reason – it still sounded crazy but she considered herself a little more open-minded by now – but that man had lost his wife and his kids an eternity ago. Bringing that back up, that was just cruel.

"Why, Sam?" He was concentrated on driving. "What are you hoping to find?"

Helplessly she could only watch her boyfriend while he spun a smoothly lie about being a young reporter working on a story with his partner. He had been here before, the partner, right?

Sam showed the man the picture of his father and Mr. Welch confirmed that the famous but still missing John Winchester had been there only days ago. Watching Sam closely – as if she had anything else to do – Jess caught the sigh of relief before Sam's mask of I'm-just-a-reporter was back in place. Who knew he was that good at lying?

"Well, I don't know what the hell kinda story you're working on. The questions he asked me?" Mr. Welch shook his head clearly clueless what this was all about. Jess knew that feeling.

"About your wife Constance?" Sam was now the nice college boy again, the man Jess loved and thought she knew. Now his behavior seemed to be only a mask to get what he wanted and Jess wondered if it always had been a mask.

"He asked me where she was buried." That was the question of the day.

"And where is that again?"

"Okay, Sam." Jess interfered and stood in front of him. As if that mattered in any way. The two men kept on talking like she wasn't there. "Why are you so obsessed with that woman's grave?" She tried to read something in his face but for once she had no idea what he was thinking.

When Sam finally turned to leave Mr. Welch was close to tears. Like Jess thought the questions had brought up some thing he had tried to forget for decades, Jess was sure of that.

Sam even had the nerve to ask if it had been a happy marriage. Couldn't he see that the man was still grieving? So it was time to leave him alone. But Sam stopped at the car and Jess saw his jaw working like when he wanted to say something bud didn't know how to bring it up.

"Sam, no." She tried to catch his hand. "Let's just leave, okay?"

Sam turned back to Mr. Welch.

"Mr. Welch, did you ever hear of a woman in white?"

Jess recognized that term. According to Sam the late Mrs. Welch was a woman in white, whatever the hell that meant.

This time, however, Sam explained it – seriously, you know this stuff from the top of your head? – basically accusing Mr. Welch of cheating on his wife.

"You think...you think that has something to do with...Constance? You smartass!" At this point Jess was sure the man would hit Sam.

Sam kept calm eying the other man closely. "You tell me."

"I mean, maybe...maybe I made some mistakes. But no matter what I did, Constance, she never would have killed her own children." He stocked overwhelmed with emotions – anger or grief Jess couldn't tell – before he continued and that message was kind of clear: "Now, you get the hell out of here! And you don't come back!"

Before the situation could escalate for real Sam had the sense to leave, finally.

"You know with that ghost story of yours." Jess pointed out to a Sam who couldn't hear her. "You just told him by cheating on his wife he was in some way responsible for his kid's deaths. You know that, right?" But Sam didn't seem to care. He had just reopened some old wounds and added a new portion of guild to that poor man's conscience and he didn't care. He looked rather pleased with himself.

Jess squinted against the sun standing low in the sky. It was getting late.

"So, what now?" She asked, sarcasm wasted to unhearing ears. "We wait till it's dark and then we'll dig her up?"

After a few minutes of driving in what seemed like no particular direction Sam stopped at an empty stretch of the road. He dug out the picture of his family again and stared at if for long moments, tracing the outlines of his younger self and Dean's – they both had been sweet kids – and finally his dad's. Lost in memories he smiled sadly and blinked away the tears brimming in his eyes.

And then it hit Jess. Until now John Winchester had been a figure in the distance. An unreliable man how had dragged his kids into a crusade – Sam had used that word twice by now – of finding their mother's killer. Shortly Jess' thoughts drifted to her own mother who was well alive and a lovingly port whenever she needed help or support or just somebody to lean on. She didn't want to imagine a life without her mother.

In the last two days Jess had learned more about Sam and his past than in the two years before that but she got glimpses at best. Every time she turned around she found another piece of information painting a picture of a hard and lonely childhood. And seriously, what kind of father kicked his son out of his life for going to college? To Stanford on a full ride, no less.

And Dean? A criminal, a con-artist with an arsenal in his trunk. Who just got himself arrested and it wasn't the first time, Jess would bet money on that.

However, Sam still cared for them. They were his family. It was simple as that. It didn't matter what they did or would do, they were family.

_And let's face it, Sam is far from innocent_, the voice in her mind added. Which brought her thoughts back to Brady. He had known.

Brady knew there was something about Sam, more than what met the eye. How did he know? Sam never spoke about his past. Sometimes Jess could coax a tiny bit of information out of Sam when he was really drunk. But someone like Brady? He was a friend but not that close.

"I really hope we get a chance to talk about all this." She said, Brady's words ringing in her ear talking about killing her. _Or maybe I am already dead._

With one last sigh Sam put the picture away and reached for the ignition.

"Okay, Dean." He said with a grim expression. "Time to get you out."

Jess wasn't sure if she wanted to find out what he had in mind. He had an arsenal in the trunk and by now it wouldn't surprise her if he knew his way around the weapons. He had kept a wicked looking knife in their bedroom without her noticing for Christ's sake.

"I really hope you have a better plan than to go in with blazing guns." That would either end with him getting killed or in prison. Jess, however, couldn't think of another plan for getting Dean out. She had no idea for what they were holding Dean but the fake badges could probably be involved. And that was some serious trouble he had gotten himself into. She didn't have to be a pre-law to know that much.

It turned out Sam had something else in mind. He stopped at one of those half-abandoned gas stations a couple of miles out of town and headed for the phones at the side. He looked around and when nobody was in sight, he took a deep breath and dialed 911.

"Sam? What are you doing?" Jess asked but then the call was answered and Sam started his little show.

"Help me, please, you gotta help me." And suddenly he sounded like he was fourteen and freaked out of his mind. "They're shooting. Oh god, they are shooting at me!"

"Sir, please calm down." A female voice came out of the speaker. "Are you hurt?"

"N...no, I think not." Sam paused but was breathing harsh. "I...I ran. And ... They're still shooting. I can hear them. They're coming. Please help me! You gotta help me!"

"Sir, where are you?"

"I...I don't know." Panic hitched his voice and if Jess hadn't known it was an act she would fall for it. "Whiteford Road, I think. At the gas station. They're coming!" With that he hung up and hurried back to the car a smug grin on his face.


	9. Chapter 9

They drove again. Jess had given up to guess what was going on in Sam's mind. Brady had been right, she didn't know her boyfriend at all.

"So, what is it now?" She asked. "Are we going to dig up that woman or are we going to bail Dean out of prison?" She didn't like either options. The first involved gigging up a grave – that thought alone gave her shivers – the latter probably would get Sam arrested as well.

But it looked like Sam was only getting away from the place where the Sheriff would show up any minute now.

When Sam's phone rang Jess literally jumped and nearly fell out of the car – damn ghost status – but Sam just answered the phone with a smile.

"Fake 911 phone call?" Came Dean's voice out of the speaker. "Sammy, I don't know, that's pretty illegal."

"You're welcome." Sam's grin grew wider.

Dean? Jess leaned over to listen into the conversation. How did he get out? Had Dean only needed a little distraction to escape from custody? Sam's expression told her that this was exactly what Sam had expected.

_He's enjoying this,_ Jess realized.

Eager like a six-year-old talking about his first day of school Sam recapped the information he had gained from Mr. Welch. Totally ignoring his brother who tried to interrupt him.

"I just can't figure out why Dad hasn't destroyed the corpse yet." And there was the corpse again. At some level Jess wished they would just do it so they could get rid of that topic.

"Well, that's what I'm trying to tell you. He's gone. Dad left Jericho." Dean finally managed to inform his brother.

Their father had left? Well, that was a surprise. And not only to Jess.

"What? How do you know?" Sam asked.

"I've got his journal." Was Dean's more than cryptic answer. Seriously, why couldn't they talk in full sentences? Jess had no idea what was so special about a journal but apparently Sam knew what his brother was talking about. When they started to talk about ex-Marine crap and coordinates it didn't make things clearer.  
"I don't understand." Yeah, he wasn't alone with that. "I mean, what could be so important that Dad would just skip out in the middle of a job? Dean, what the hell is going on?" That question had been on her mind since Brady had entered her apartment.

"Tell me if you ever find an answer." She muttered. Out of the corner of her eye Jess saw something white.

"Sam, watch out!" She yelled and out of instinct she tried to brace herself at the dashboard for the impact coming up. And nearly ended in the engine.

A woman – Constance, her mind helpfully supplied – stood in the middle of the road. To close, to fast. No way Sam could stop the car in time. Not a battleship like this. He tried, though.

Sam slammed the brakes and with both hands on the wheel he was ready for the impact, too. Which never came.

The car went through the ghost without resistance before Sam could bring it to a halt. Inside the car Jess breathed hard, her heart drumming in her chest and she stared outside but the woman was gone.

"They are all the same." A female voice said. Slowly Jess looked up. In the back seat sat Constance Welch – pale and translucent and obviously dead – looking her right in the eye.

"How did you …?" Jess started before she realized that the woman was looking at her. Not just in her general direction, really looking at her. A quick glance at Sam told her that he hadn't noticed the passenger in the back seat yet.

"You can see me?" She wasn't sure if this was a good or a bad sign but having a ghost – or two? – in the car couldn't be good. A homicidal ghost, no less.

"Men." Constance said with a gesture towards Sam who was still oblivious the the women around him. "They are all the same. They tell you how pretty you are, how much they love you. That you mean the world to them." She made a disgusted face. "And then they follow the next pretty face and forget everything they have promised to you." She leaned forward staring intensely at Jess. "They are all the same. Your boyfriend too."

Jess shook her head. "No. Sam is not like that. He wouldn't do that."

"Are you sure?" Constance asked with a sad smile.

Jess opened her mouth to tell her that of course she was sure. This was Sam. Her Sam. But then she shut her mouth without saying a word. Two days ago she had been sure. Two days ago she had thought she knew everything about Sam Winchester. Now? Not so much.

"Let me show you." Constance flickered and only now Jess realized that she was talking to a ghost. A homicidal ghost who apparently liked to kill unfaithful men. What did that say about Sam if she was after him now, Jess wondered.

"Take me home."

Now Constance got Sam's attention. To Jess' surprise – okay maybe not really – Sam stayed calm and made eye-contact with the ghost in the back seat via the rear-view mirror.

"No." Was his firm answer.

"Sam, get out." Jess tried to warn him but he still didn't acknowledge her presence.

Like the night before Constance took control over the car. She locked the doors and started the engine. Sam tried to steer but had no control whatsoever.

"Stop it." Jess launched herself at Constance in the back seat. For a second she hit a solid body. Just like back at the bridge Jess could grab the other woman. It felt like she was bathing her hands in ice water. Her fingers went numb immediately and the icy cold crept up her arms and into her body. But she didn't let go of Constance, fingers digging into the other woman's shoulders but it didn't seem to bother her at all.

"Leave him alone, bitch!" Jess snarled with gritted teeth. After not feeling anything for so long the pain fried her nerves with overstimulation. But she just tightened her grip.

With a pitiful glance at Jess Constance flickered away. However, the car was still driving by itself.

The drive only took a few minutes but it felt like an eternity. Finally they stopped in front of an abandoned house and the car went dead.

And Constance was back, right next to Jess in the back seat. Again via the mirror Sam looked at her. His whole body was rigid and Jess spotted the fine lines of stress around his eyes. However, he still didn't freak out. Like it was totally normal to have a ghost riding in the back seat.

"Don't do this." He said. They still hadn't figured out what "this" actually was but like that girl in the diner had said, whoever picked Constance up disappeared. Forever.

"I can never go home." Constance whispered and she sounded sad.

Sam's face softened. "You're scared to go home."

_Sympathy, Sam? Really?_ Jess couldn't help but roll her eyes. On the other hand, this was so Sam.

"You leave him alone." Jess snarled at Constance. "You hear me?" She grabbed the other woman at the shoulder, no way she would just sit there and wait for Sam to get killed.

An icy cold numbed her hand the second she touched Constance and half her arm followed but it worked. Constance disappeared.

"And stay gone, bitch." Jess yelled for good measure. But the next second Constance was back this time in the passenger seat. With a smut grin in Jess' direction she climbed into Sam's lab, shoving him back with enough force to recline the seat. Sam struggled but couldn't force her off.

"Hold me. I'm so cold." Constance whispered into his ear but had her eyes locked with Jess' the whole time.

"You can't kill me." Sam's voice was strained as if he had trouble breathing. So Constance actually weighed something, Jess thought randomly.

"I'm not unfaithful. I've never been!" And for that Jess wanted to kiss him. Whatever he hadn't told her, whatever kind of secrets about his past he hold, she should never had doubted this point.

"You will be. Just hold me." Constance leaned in and kissed him. Sam fought her but it was pointless. Slowly it dawned on Jess what was about to happen.

Constance killed unfaithful men.

Sam hadn't been unfaithful.

_You will be._

Constance was about to rape Sam here, right in front of her, so she could kill him afterward.

Why? Because he was hunting her? Because of what had happened at the bridge? Because of Jess?

It didn't really matter because it wouldn't happen.

"No!" Jess screamed and launched between the front seats. Throwing herself at Constance felt like diving into ice water – she couldn't breath and her whole body went numb and cold in a heartbeat – but she didn't care. She _had_ to throw Constance off.

And then the ghost showed it's real face. With an angry scream Constance flicked Jess back into the back seat. Now she looked as dead as she was – head barely more than a skull and flickering like something out of a horror movie.

The fingers of her right hand burned holes into Sam's shirt and his skin – Jess smelled burned flesh – and Constance just went deeper into Sam's chest. He grunted in pain unable to do anything.

Sam would die, that thought was clear in Jess' mind. Her body still numb from the contact with the ghost she couldn't do anything either.

So Jess did the only thing she could think of. She screamed for Dean. With everything she had she yelled his name. And then something happened. Something shifted in her and from one second to the other she felt drained like she had just run a marathon. For the first time since this whole nightmare had started she felt like she could sleep.

A gunshot startled her. Glass shattered and Constance flickered.

"What did you do?" Constance asked, caught between fear and astonishment.

Dean fired again and again and with every shot Constance flickered. Jess had no idea where Dean had come from – or maybe she had? – and if he actually could do something about Constance but she was glad that he was there.

"Now you're going down." Weak but determined she once again grabbed the other woman and with one last flicker Constance was gone.

Sam used that moment to sit up and start the engine. "I'm taking you home."


	10. Chapter 10

"What are you doing?" Jess screamed when the car jumped forward. "You wanna kill us?"

The house was right in front of them, big and scary and damn solid in the light of the headlights.

And then they smashed through the wall. Wood scratched over metal. The impact threw Jess through the front seat and half into the dashboard. She closed her eyes to fight off the dizziness and then tried to find a position without being stuck in car parts.

"After this I'll sleep for a week." She muttered while she waited for the world to stop spinning. Suddenly Dean was at her window yelling his brother's name.

"Sam! You okay?"

Breathing heavily Sam needed a moment to answer. "I think ..." Not reassuring at all. Constance had her fingers in his chest not even a minute ago. Jess felt her own heart aching at that thought.

"Can you move?" Dean asked and came real close to her now.

"Yeah. Help me?" Sam answered and leaned through the window to give him a hand. That was when Jess hurried to get out of the way. Maybe she had gotten somewhat used to being some kind of ghost but people moving through her? That was where she drew the line.

Standing outside of the car Jess was the only one who noticed Constance. The ghost picked up a framed photograph and her expression softened for a second when she ran her fingertips over the dusty glass of the frame.

"Um … guys?" Jess tried to get the brothers' attention. "She's back."

Behind her the car door closed and Constance looked up. Ignoring Jess for once her eyes were fixated on the brothers.

With sudden callousness she dropped the photograph and stepped aside. The bureau behind her came to life and crashed into the brothers pinning them effectively to the car.

Jess had seen Constance driving the car only with her mind but this was somehow a new level of wrong. Sam and Dean fought against the furniture but it didn't budge an inch. They only could wait for Constance's next move. Jess on the other hand …

She made an unsteady step in Constance's direction. Searching for something to hold on to Jess dropped to her knees. Whatever she had done back in the car it had drained her completely. On hands and knees she tried to catch her breath and to somehow gather the strength to stand up.

"Stay away from them." She spat the words out between harsh breaths. It was an empty threat. Jess knew it and Constance knew it, too.

Damn, why did she feel so weak? _C'mon, Jess. Get up._

The lights flickered and Jess looked up to find out what the ghost was up to now. From the upper floor water ran down the stairs and for a second Jess wondered why this place still had water and electricity running.

Constance went over to the base of the stairs focused on something on the top.

"You've come home to us, Mommy." Two voices whispered like one. Children, Jess guessed. She couldn't see who was on the top of the stairs and she had no idea why they were here. Kids playing in the abandoned house? But why did they call Constance mommy? It didn't make sense.

Constance, however, had a clear line of sight to whoever was up there. Judging by her horrified expression she didn't like what she saw.

Suddenly two kids – a boy and a girl, both wet and apparently dead – appeared behind the ghost. Without hesitation the children caught Constance – their mother? – in a tight embrace.

And Constance screamed. She threw her head back and screamed. In a surge of energy all three of them melted into a puddle on the floor. It flickered for a second longer and then it was gone.

When she heard a scratching sound behind her Jess turned her head. Sam and Dean now shoved the bureau away with ease.

"So this is where she drowned her kids." Dean said while Sam got closer to investigate the spot. Jess needed a moment to remember the story about Constance drowning her kids in the bathtub.

"That's why she could never go home. She was too scared to face them." Sam's voice washed over her and she could barely make out the words. Slowly she stood up.

When Dean slapped Sam on the chest right where the holes were burned into his shirt – and the skin beneath – she winced in sympathy but Sam laughed through the pain.

"Can we go home now?" She asked but was still ignored.

"What were you thinking shooting Casper in the face, you freak?" Sam shook his head.

"Hey. Saved your ass." Dean turned to inspect the damage on his car. "I'll tell you another thing. If you screwed up my car?" Over his shoulder he looked at Sam a grin on his face. "I'll kill you."

Dean inspected his car closely for possible damage. Beside one busted headlight, a tiny dent and a few scratches he didn't find any. An old battle ship like the Impala was pretty much indestructible, Jess guessed.

"Okay." Dean closed the hood. "Let's get her back on the road before the Sheriff catches up on us."

Jess sat on the dusty floor – as far as possible from the spot where the ghost had vanished – and watched them working on getting the car out of the living room. It took them a while but Jess didn't mind. She still felt like she had just ran a marathon.

"Watch out." Dean shouted wincing at every scratching noise from wood over metal.

When they got the car on the road again – Jess hurried to get in the backseat – they didn't head back into town. So maybe, just maybe, they would get outa here without seeing the Sheriff or one of his deputies again.

They drove in silence for a while which was odd. Jess had expected enthusiastic chatter, a recap of the events, a "Oh my god, I can't believe we are still alive!". Once again it became clear that the Winchesters weren't like other people. Sam wasn't like other people. Other people didn't just survive a ghost attack and then shrug it off like it was daily business. She squinted at Dean. Maybe it was daily business, at least for him.

"It shouldn't have worked." Dean broke the silence.

"What?" Sam sat up straighter coming back from his own thoughts.

"When I shot her." Dean explained. "When I shot Constance it shouldn't have worked."

"Thought you had iron rounds." Sam frowned.

Dean shot his brother a glance. "I stole the gun from the Sheriff's department. Doubt they use iron rounds."

"Oh." Was all Sam managed to say. "You shot a spirit with normal bullets? Are you insane?"

"Had no time to get to the trunk." Dean muttered and then grinned. "Hey, it worked."

Sam sucked in his cheeks, thinking. Jess hold her breath and silently prayed that he would figure out that there had to be something else. Someone else. In only a few hours Brady would come by to … do this … and eventually kill her. He had said so. So she needed Sam to figure it out.

But instead he said: "Maybe it was some kind of reflex. You know, she heard the shot and thought it would effect her."

"Or it was something different." Jess yelled at him but he ignored her. "C'mon Sam, you are the smart guy."

"Maybe." Dean didn't sound convinced and Jess got her hope up.

"What?" Sam asked again and Dean shifted uncomfortable in his seat.

"I …" He started. "After you called. I thought you'd crashed or something. I ran."

"You ran?" Sam turned to face his brother. "You ran out there? That's miles."

"I think I ran." He shook his head as if he wanted to clear it. "It's a little dizzy, maybe I panicked a little?" He grinned sheepishly. "But I was there in time."

"Yeah, you were." Sam's voice was thick with emotions and Jess had to swallow hard.

Did she do that? Bring Dean there in time? If so she had no idea how to repeat it. Or to do anything else.

"Here." Dean tossed a leather-bound journal at Sam. "Check out those coordinates, would you?"

After a few minutes Sam looked up from the map illuminated by a flashlight. "Okay, here's where Dad went." He tapped his finger on the spot. "It's called Blackwater Ridge, Colorado."

Dean kept his eyes on the road but nodded. "Sounds charming. How far?"

"About six hundred miles."

"Hey, if we shag ass we could make it by morning."

Jess wanted to protest but hesitated looking at Sam. This was his decision. He could come home to her and rock the interview and pretend this little adventures was nothing more, just a little adventure. Or he could go with Dean searching for their father. And maybe kill a ghost or two along the way.

"Please, Sam." She whispered. Before this time loop had started he had been on his way home, however, she wasn't sure if it would play out the same this time. Maybe she had changed too much.

"I'm doomed if you don't come home." She still pleaded while Sam hesitated.

"Dean, I, um …" He finally said.

Dean glanced at him. "You're not going."

"The interview's in like, ten hours. I gotta be there."

Dean nodded and the darkness inside the car couldn't hide the disappointment clearly written all over his face. For the first time Jess really felt sorry for him. Sam would come home to her and his friends and his life but their father was still incommunicado which left Dean alone.

What had he said when Sam had pointed out that Dean could do this trip on his own? Jess could still hear his "Yeah, well, I don't want to." and she silently promised Dean that Sam would stay in contact with him this time. Even if she had to force him.

To her surprise Dean didn't argue. "I'll take you home."


	11. Chapter 11

Whatever Jess had done to get Dean to that abandoned house in time, she tried to repeat it to force the brothers back to Palo Alto. It only gave her a headache.

Dean drove at a steady pace, above the speed limit but not by much. And when Sam called the other Jess he said "I'll be home soon." and "Missed you." instead of telling her to get the hell out of the apartment. Sam ended the call with a "I love you." and a smile. It would warm her heart if Jess wouldn't know that the other Jess would start on the cookies any minute now.

"So." Dean broke the silence. "You and Jess. It's serious?"

Sam fiddled with the phone still in his hand and now it was his time to grin sheepishly.

"Like I bought a ring serious?" He finally answered. Both, Dean and Jess, sat there in stunned silence.

They were planning a future together and Jess hoped they would get married some day but this came totally out of the blue.

"I'm just kinda waiting for the right moment." Sam added when Dean didn't say anything.

"Don't wait too long." Dean's words were barely a whisper. He kept his eyes on the road but his voice betrayed him. There was so much love and affection in those few words, Jess had to blink away the tears.

"So, you're alright with this?"

"Are you asking for my permission?" Dean asked with false bemusement.

Sam thought about it for a moment while Jess tried to wrap her mind around the idea of marrying Sam.

"Jessica Lee Winchester." She tried the roll of the name on her tongue – nobody could hear her anyway – and she decided that she could get used to that name.

"Yeah." Sam finally answered Dean's question. He turned towards his brother and he had his serious face on, like he had some important things to say. "Yes, I think I am asking for your permission. I wanted to cut hunting out of my life but I never wanted to cut you out." He paused for a second, taking a breath. "I want to know that you are happy for me. That you are proud of me. I want you to be a part of my life." He stopped because his voice started to tremble. "I want you to be my best man at the wedding and some day I want my kids to pester me about when their cool Uncle Dean would swing by."

Now Jess really had misty eyes and bit back the "aww" that was on her lips. For the first time since she had become Sam's silent shadow she felt like an intruder.

"I'd like that." Dean's whisper was barely audible. He cleared his throat. "But shouldn't you ask Jess first before you plan the wedding? I'm not an expert with all this normal stuff, you know, but I'm pretty sure there is a question involved somewhere she has to answer with "yes" first."

Sam smacked his shoulder.

"Yes!" Was Jess' answer from the backseat. "The answer is yes. But first you have to come home and rescue me from creepy Brady who has pinned me on the ceiling."

She shuddered at that memory. Back then she had been alive and unharmed – in a strange position, though – and Sam had been right outside the bedroom. So maybe, just maybe he would be back in time to save his damsel in distress.

Dean pulled over in front of her place and Jess was out of the car before it had completely stopped moving. She sprinted towards the door but ran into the invisible wall only a few feet from the car or more specific from Sam. Damn ten feet radius.

"Sam, hurry." Jess rushed him but he took his time. He glanced up at the window behind which Brady messed with the other Jess right now. Sam, however, didn't know that.

"Call me if you find him? And maybe I can meet up with you later, huh?" Sam said and Jess shifted from one foot the other while Sam tried to tell his brother to stay in touch.

"Yeah, all right." Dean nodded and Sam patted the door before he finally turned to leave. Jess would feel better if he had grabbed a weapon or two first or if Dean would come with him but she was glad that he was moving at least. And then Dean called him back. Jess wanted to hit him. Both of them.

"Yeah, yeah." She muttered. "You two are an awesome team. How about rescuing me now? Please?"

Dean drove off and Jess stayed as far ahead of Sam as she could. It must look kinda ridiculous, like she was a dog on a short leash, damn ten feet radius.

"Sam, move your ass." She pushed him which didn't do anything. How could someone with such long legs walk so slowly? Finally inside their apartment Sam called her name but instead of searching for her when she didn't answer he stopped for the damn cookies.

Jess could hear the shower so he probably thought that was where she was. Why hadn't she shut it off before she had answered the door to let Brady in?

While Sam lingered back Jess didn't wait. She had kicked Constance's ass, maybe she could kick Brady's too. She was different now, Brady couldn't surprise her anymore.

Sam was close enough to the bedroom to allow her to go through the door and actually made a few steps into the room. But a quick look around – and she wasn't looking at the ceiling for now – revealed that Brady wasn't there anymore. Only now Jess allowed herself a glance up to the ceiling. There she was. The other Jess.

Jess had been here before, knew what to expect, but actually seeing herself helpless and pale up there? Jess shrieked back, both hands covering her mouth and for somebody who hadn't eaten in days she felt surprisingly nauseous. For an absurd second she wondered if she could actually hurl but then she locked eyes with the other Jess. And the world tilted.

Jess' perspective changed and suddenly she looked down to the bed below. Right in time to watch Sam settling down with his eyes closed and his hands comfortable behind his head. She hadn't even noticed him coming in.

_Open your eyes,_ she wanted to scream but couldn't.

"Enjoyed your little trip?" Brady's voice was in her head. "Liked what you found out about your boyfriend? Sam, the hunter? A little different from Sam, the college boy, isn't he?"

"Let me go." She demanded and struggled to get free. Her body didn't move an inch. Just a passenger in her own head. "You bastard, let me go!"

"Or what?" He chuckled. "You've noticed his scars, haven't you? When you two made sweet love? The stories he told you about them? Lies, all of them. Sam dug his first grave at ten, killed a werewolf at fourteen. Nearly mauled to death by a chupacabra at fifteen. He has blood on his hands, he's a killer." She couldn't see Brady's face but he was clearly grinning. "You still like him? You're still in love with him?"

"Please." She whimpered silently.

"Isn't he cute? So young and _innocent_." The last word was dripping with sarcasm. "Let's find out if he is worthy enough to survive this."

A sharp pain sliced her stomach open and Jess screamed but her lips kept silent. Blood dripped down on Sam's face.

"Showtime!"

Sam couldn't save her. She would die, that thought was clear in her mind. And it didn't frightened her as much as she would have thought. But Sam would die too if he didn't open his damn eyes any second now. Right on cue Sam started screaming her name.

And then came the pain. She was burning alive. Flames burst out of her body and all around her and Sam made no attempt to get out of the damn bed. He just stared at her and screamed and didn't even shield his eyes from the flames.

They would both burn to death, Jess realized.

No!

Through the pain and the panic she screamed Dean's name. Willed him to come back and save Sam. The sudden drain told her that she had done … something. She could only hope it was enough to save Sam.

Her body was fried – at least it didn't hurt anymore – but her mind was still there. Still seeing, still hearing.

And then Dean burst in and dragged his brother from the bed but Sam was fighting him, reaching for Jess and she begged him to let go.

"Please Sam, leave me. Please."

If it wasn't for Dean Sam would have jumped right into the flames, would have sacrificed himself, not leaving her behind. But Dean was there. He had to bodily shove Sam out of the room, however, he was determined to get his brother to safety.

"I love you." She said. Sam didn't answer with words, didn't have to, she could see the answer in his eyes, his tears.

For a split second Dean looked up and their eyes met.

"Watch out for him." She said in her mind and Dean nodded as if he had heard her.

Everything went dark.


	12. Epilogue

Jess blinked and looked around. She was in her bedroom or better what was left of it. Smoke heavy in the air and everything was soaking wet. A mix of ash and water covered everything with a thick layer, half burned things poked out of the rubble and between that clumps of plastic now melted and twisted beyond recognition.

The fire had been thorough. Her whole life lay at her feet in ashes and she blinked away the tears.

Then her head snapped up. "Sam?"

She remembered Dean dragging his brother outside but did they get out in time?

"Sam? Where are you?" She tried a step towards what used to be the door. Like before her feet didn't quite tough the ground which made walking in this mess easier.

"Sam! Answer me, goddamnit!" Where was he? Somewhere under this rubbish? Was he alive?

"Sam is not here." A soft voice spoke up.

Jess froze and turned around slowly. In the middle of the chaos stood a woman. Pretty face, dark hair and clean clothes. She didn't look like someone from a rescue team and for sure she didn't look like she had crawled through the ruins of Jess' apartment to get here. Where did she even come from? Jess stood in the only door besides the bathroom door. Which was blocked by the collapsed ceiling and had no other entrance, whatsoever.

"Who are you?" Jess asked and made a step closer backwards to the door.

"You can call me Tessa." She answered with a smile. She looked pretty harmless but that Jess had thought of Brady, too.

"_What_ are you?" A few days ago this question would have sounded silly, now, however, Jess considered it legitimate.

"You died, Jessica Lee Moore." Still with this sad smile on her lips. "It's time to move on. I'm your reaper."

"Sam?" That was the thing she was really concerned about. "Is he …? He isn't …?"

"He is alive." Tessa took away her biggest fear.

"Thank God." Dean had gotten him out. Good, that was good.

"Come." Tessa hold her hand out and Jess almost took it.

"Wait. I can't go. Not yet." Jess stepped back, shaking her head.

"Jessica." Her voice was gentle and full of concern. "You saw a vengeful spirit. I can't force you to come with me but if you stay …" She didn't finish the sentence but looked at Jess meaningfully. "Every spirit turns vengeful sooner or later. They become insane and then they start to hurt people. And people like Sam have to kill them a second time." She stepped closer taking Jess' hands. "You don't want to lay that burden on his shoulders, don't you?"

Jess shook her head violently, tears now running freely down her cheeks.

"Please." Her voice cracked. "I just need to make sure he is alive and well. Please? Can I see him one last time? Then I will come with you. I promise. But please, just one look." Her whole body was shaking now but this was important. She couldn't go without knowing that Sam was okay.

"Please."

"Okay." Tessa agreed hesitantly. "One look."

Suddenly Jess stood outside in the sunshine. Still wearing her nightgown she stood barefoot on a sidewalk. She looked around but spotted nothing familiar. Tessa was gone.

Jess opened her mouth to call her name when the deep grumble of a car engine caught her attention. She turned and there it was. Like a shiny black beast the Impala came down the street. Dean behind the wheel and Sam in the passenger seat. He looked good, calm and relaxed. As far as Jess could tell he had no burn marks on his face and even his hair didn't seem to be touched by the flames.

The car came closer and Sam straightened in the seat. Then their eyes met. Sam looked her straight in the eye. He could see her.

His expression was so full of love and hurt but he would be okay. She knew he would be okay. Maybe not for a while but he had Dean at his side and eventually he would be okay.

His eyes were fixed on her while the car slowly drove by like he was afraid to blink and she was gone. Silently she wished him goodby.

"Are you ready now?" Tessa asked behind her but Jess didn't let the car out of her sight. With her eyes she followed the car till it disappeared around a corner.

"Yes."

***end***

Thanks to everybody who enjoyed this story with me, you are awesome.

November is NaNoWriMo time so don't expect something new from me before December. However, I am writing fanfiction this year so stay tuned for a Supernatural/Dexter crossover and hopefully the last part of the Victor'verse.


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